Collecting what he estimated at 800 pounds of pennies was not an easy feat. Daigle, who runs an optician shop, began saving them 35 years ago when he and his wife Sandra moved into their current Milford home.

“It was something I wanted to do,” Daigle told the paper. “I always follow through. I was just praying I didn’t die first.”

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Daigle said his wife Sandra laughed when he began picking up the pennies soon after they married in 1977, saying they would one day pay off their mortgage with them.

Just a few years after he began collecting, Daigle had to purchase two steel military ammunition boxes to withstand the weight of the pennies. He had initially stored the pennies in a grape crate, but it eventually gave way to the heavy coins.

Daigle told the Daily News he wanted to make his last payment “memorable,” but other memories were also made that day. The Daigles celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary, a date he said was just coincidental.

Daigle said he was glad to rid his house of the coins — but he said he still habitually picks up pennies on the street and cashes them at change-sorting machines.